Listen to the debut single from Palma Violets and The Big Moon members’ new band

Gently Tender – the new band from members of Palma Violets and The Big Moon – have shared their debut single, ‘2 Chords Good’.

Palma Violets quietly split in 2016 after releasing two albums, 2013’s ‘180’ and 2015’s ‘Danger In The Club’, on Rough Trade. Bassist and singer Chili Jesson has since been performing live with his new band Crewel Intentions.

Now, the band’s Sam Fryer, Will Doyle, and Peter Mayhew have teamed up with The Big Moon’s Celia Archer, plus guitarist Adam Brown as Gently Tender. In a press release, Fryer said ‘2 Chords Good’ was based on a conversation he’d had with his friend Juliette in a west London pub in 2016.

“The song is essentially me replaying that moment in my mind, and almost kicking myself about my average and weak response [“Probably yeah”] to her question, ‘Are you going to put some more chords on your new album?’” he said. “The song is me talking to myself … and making excuses like I was feeling ‘kinda stressed that day.'”

He continued: “I had been suffering with anxiety at the time of the meeting, but as I gradually formulate what the answer should have been, I cultivate pictures in my mind of visions and scenes that move me; memories of ‘golden evenings’ and ‘sunlit canals’ and songs that I have loved.”

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Fryer spoke to Beats 1’s Matt Wilkinson earlier this week about Palma Violets’ split. “About 2 years ago Palma violets decided to call it quits,” he said. “We didn’t fall out or anything like that, we just changed as people. We were 18 years old when we started the band and everything’s quite easy to get on the same page, write the same kind of music all the time – whereas when you hit 24, after 5 years of touring, I think you just become different people and we just moved on.”

‘2 Chords Good’ will be released on “extremely limited” 7-inch vinyl via Big Score and is available for pre-order now. You can listen to the track above. The band will make their first official live appearance on September 26 when they play London’s The Lexington.

Earlier this year, The Big Moon told NMEwork was underway on their second album, but they weren’t sure what direction it was going to take at present. Asked when people would be able to hear the record, Archer said: “Probably not until late this year, early next year. There’s lots to do.”